French voters stayed away from the polls in large numbers during the first round of a legislative election expected to deliver a comfortable majority for newly-elected President Emmanuel Macron.

Even though opinion polling has taken a battering — Cameron, Brexit, Trump, etc — those who cling to the idea that the European Union, for all its myriad faults, still offers the best prospect for stability and prosperity will be cheered by the news that, for the first time, a poll predicts that Emmanuel Macron will beat Marine Le Pen in both rounds of France’s presidential election.